Brazilian footballer caught with 793kg of marijuana gets 9 years in prison

Former Borussia Mönchengladbach defender Marcelo Pletsch has been sentenced by a Brazilian court to nine years and two months behind bars for the illegal transportation of a massive amount of marijuana.

Pletsch was arrested in November 2015 on charges of drug trafficking after a truck belonging to him was found to contain 793kg of marijuana at a checkpoint in Toledo in the state of Parana.

The sale and transport of marijuana carries a far heftier criminal penalty in Brazil than a charge of possession or cultivation of the drug.